The tower is named after Pieter Gerbrandy, Prime Minister of the Netherlands during World War Two.

Another nearby antenna, the 196 metre (643') high mediumwave transmitter Lopik, was demolished on September 4, 2015.

Only hours later, a similar tower in Smilde caught fire and collapsed, after which all transmitters in the Gerbrandy tower were shut down as a precaution, leaving large parts of the Netherlands without FM-radio and digital TV (DVB-T) reception.

The ownership of the tower is complex: the concrete main structure is owned by Alticom: a company established in 2007 that bought many assets from KPN.

The metal mast on top of the structure is owned by NOVEC, which is a subsidiary of the electricity transmission operator TenneT.